I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter/ Erika Sanchez/ 344 pgs

Young Adult is not something I routinely read but every now and then one catches my eye, as this one did. The book focuses on Julia Reyes' last two years of high school in Chicago. Julia has all of the teenaged angst you'd expect but her stress is multiplied because her older sister dies at the beginning of the story, her parents are immigrants from Mexico, and her family is poor. While I can see why Julia drove her mother nuts with her behavior, I could definitely sympathize with Julia too. She's smart, she wants to go to college, she wants to be a writer. None of these are things her mother understands, plus her mother has her own worries. This is a vivid story about one young girl trying break outside of herself and make her own way. The blurb hints at a mystery and there is one, but it's only given sporadic attention and is not the focus of the book.

The Thing About Love/ Julie James/ 365 pgs

This is a contemporary romance with characters who work at the FBI but I would hesitate to call it romantic suspense because I was expecting a bit more suspense and it just wasn't there. I still liked the book, though. It starts slowly with background on both characters. Jessica just moved to the Chicago office after divorcing her Hollywood husband. John just discovered his girlfriend was sleeping with his friend and he's ready to move across the country to Quantico to take a different path in his career. They went through training together five years earlier and did not hit it off. Jessica thought John disparaged her physical abilities (he thought he was motivating her) and John thought she disparaged his intellectual abilities (she was trying to be distant so as not to spark any nasty rumors). Now, they are assigned to work an undercover job together. I liked both of these characters, especially how they were willing to clear the air about their earlier miscommunications and misconceptions about each other. The undercover job they are working on is very tame. I kept waiting for something explosive to happen, but it really never does. Still, the characters are fun and the author has clearly done her research on the FBI.

Don't You Cry/ Mary Kubic / 320 pgs

I've read a few other books by Kubica and have never been wowed by them but she's so popular I thought I should give her another try. Unfortunately, I found this one underwhelming as well. It's told from two different view points. The first is that of Quinn, a twenty-something who lives and works in Chicago. Her roommate, Esther, is missing. The second viewpoint is that of Alex, an 18-year-old living across Lake Michigan in a small Michigan town who notices a new girl hanging around. As a reader, this book lacked tension because of a key piece of information we don't know. And a suspense book without tension is just...not that great. There was no sense of urgency and honestly the mystery itself was just not that compelling.

Neanderthal Seeks Human/ Penny Reid /308 pgs

Believe it or not, Neanderthal Seeks Human is a romance. I thought the title and the concept of the book were intriguing, but alas the execution didn’t work for me.

Janie is a smart woman who’s just been fired from her job. She’s got some quirks, including the urge to spout random facts when she’s nervous, but I mostly liked her. Though it’s never stated explicitly, I would guess that Janie falls somewhere on the autism spectrum. A security guard, a hot guy that Janie’s noticed before, escorts her out of the building and into a limousine that takes her home. Well, actually not home because she just broke up with her cheating boyfriend and has moved out, so she crashes at a friend’s place. The hot security guard, Quinn, continues to pop up in Janie’s life and eventually helps her get a job at his company. Despite numerous obvious signs, Janie never catches on that Quinn owns the company. This was annoying as was the fact that the story is told in the first person (Janie) and we never really get to know Quinn, except that he can be very private, he’s rich, and he finds Janie attractive. These two often misinterpret what the other says and means, and this got frustrating after a while. There’s a lot going on here, including a suspense subplot that is never fully developed, and as a whole the book just didn’t work for me.

Dark Matter: A Novel/ Blake Crouch/ 340 pages

The book opens in Chicago.  Jason Dessen and his wife Daniela and son Charlie are finishing dinner.  Jason's college friend had won a prestigious award and Daniela urges Jason to stop in at his celebration party.  An apparent mugging turns Jason's life upside down.  He is the genius who has the prestigious award.  Daniela is not his wife and Charlie was never born.  Jason finds himself questioning what is real and is he really who he thinks he is.  As things become clear, Jason enters a search for his reality.  Danger builds the closer he gets to home.  This story of alternate realities will appeal to readers who like action adventure as well as sifi.  The author's use of quantum mechanics and Schrodinger's Cat should not put off the less science oriented reader.  The end concludes this book, but it also leaves the door open for more adventures.

Brush Back/ Sara Paretsky/ 459 pages

Brush Back, written by Sara Paretsky is the latest installment in the V. I. Warshawski series.  Vic is approached by Frank Guzzo, from the old neighborhood, to exonerate his Mother, Stella, from a crime committed 25 years ago.  Problem is that Stella does not Vic or her family.  Add to that, someone on the South Side does not want Vic digging into the crime.  During all the adventure Vic is minding Bernie, goddaughter of her cousin.  Somehow all of this is combined to put Bernie and Vic in danger.  Having grown up on Chicago's South Side I found the book interesting in that Vic spends lots of time in the old neighborhood.  Many of the details ring true for locations mentioned.  Anyone who likes mystery, action and detective novels will enjoy this book.  See the SCCCLD website for more information an read a likes.

Sushi for Beginners: a novel / Marian Keyes / 426 pages

Genre - Chick Lit, Humor, Romance included

Plot overview - Set in the British Isles, magazine editor Lisa Edwards is a career climber, striving for a high profile spot in New York City, when her corporation instead sends her to start up a magazine in Dublin, Ireland. Her assistant there is Ashling Kennedy, native Irish girl with an unspectacular life, a strong sense of duty and an attractive best friend who is bored with life as a married mom to the near-perfect man. Lisa's boss is a handsome, laid-back manager who seems short on pizazz.

Over the course of this novel, lives change and lessons are learned. Friendships and marriages fail, while the magazine flourishes. But, most of all, the reader is treated to wry observations of everyday life, every day insecurities and pointed pokes at the humor in the average person's life. The plot moves along well and never seems to drag despite the book's length, but the true highlight of this novel is the author's wit.

Analysis/Recommendations

This is not Marian Keyes' first novel. She has drawn praise for the humor in her previous books, but she has not missed a beat in this one. Her humor is over-the-top funny and left me laughing out loud with no one else around (I hope). But she also weaves a many-faceted storyline that leads to unexpected places and surprise outcomes.

Keyes is hilarious while,a t the same time, weaving a storyline that deals with some issues that are not funny at all. She adeptly shows her characters as they deal with the consequences of choices they make and provides one of the most accurate depictions of emotional turmoil that I have read in a very long time. I will stop there so as not to spoil anything.

A great read, this book will especially be enjoyed by women from 19-60. But, it's also a good read for men like m who aren't afraid to be seen with chick-lit in their hands. I give it a strong recommendation. 
If the reader is seeking a romance novel, this may not fill the bill. Although there is plenty of romance here, it is not the end-all of the plot line. Some of its romantic encounters lean a little bluer than I prefer, but that is the only criticism I can make of this book.

THE RETURNED / Jason Mott / 346 Pages

I read an Advance Reader Copy (ARC); publication set for September 2013.

All over the world, the dead are coming back! They are not zombies or ghosts or even part of some secret government experiment. Amazingly, they are living breathing, talking people who have come back exactly as they were before they died. They are 'The Returned.'

Harold and Lucille Hargrave, a devoted elderly couple lost their only child more than 50 years ago. God-loving Lucille believes it is the end of days and thinks 'the Returned' are devils sent here to tempt or kill everyone. Harold, who lost his faith with the death of 8-year old Jacob all those years ago, feels 'the Returned' are just people and should be treated the same as everyone else.

Suddenly there is a knock on the door and a man from the International Bureau for the Returned is standing on their front porch accompanied by a very familiar looking 8-year old boy ... 

Mott's literary debut provides the reader with a number interesting topics for consideration (or discussion): the meaning of life, being human and/or humane, community reaction, and people's capacity for love. 

A (possible) '6 DEGREES OF READING' connection: Mitch Albom's novel The First Phone Call From Heaven (publication date: 11/12/2013) about a small Lake Michigan town suddenly placed in the world spotlight due to it's citizen's receiving calls from the afterlife.

[6 Degrees of Reading is similar to the game '6 degrees of Kevin Bacon' but with books. Select an aspect of the current title which is shared in another title and describe the connection using a single sentence.  Source : http://www.readersadvisoronline.com/ranews/mar2007/cords.html]

This Heart of Mine / Susan Elizabeth Phillips 370 p.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips continues the Chicago Stars series with the story of Molly Sommerville, sister to Phoebe, owner of the Chicago Stars (It Had to Be You). Author and illustrator of the Daphne the Bunny books, Molly nurses unrequited love for Kevin Tucker, Chicago Stars daredevil handsome quarterback. When she gets restless, her hair suffers. Her sister fears what Molly will do now. In the past she's pulled fire alarms, gave away $15 million, and now staying under the same roof as Kevin, who knows what will happen in this contemporary romance. Add a birth mother searching for her son, an aging campground cum B&B, and characters like Benny the Badger and Celia the Hen and Phillips melds laughs with romance.

A SURREY STATE OF AFFAIRS / by Ceri Radford / 273 Pages

A Surrey State of Affairs is a debut novel and the story is written as a year's worth of blog entries by Constance Harding, a woman in her early 40’s.  She is a devoted (possibly overly so) wife and mother to husband Jeffrey, adult son Rupert, and 18-year old daughter, Sophie.  Unfortunately for Constance, she has absolutely NO CLUE what is really going on with the members of her family.  Each day she blogs about her experiences in a very naive but often, quite hilarious fashion.  

Constance is also very British – she is ever so polite and never curses.  But if she does post a (spur-of-the-moment!) reaction to something upsetting, she will apologize profusely in her next post and ask her readers to please, PLEASE forgive her outburst!  Radford's novel is for those who enjoy Women's Fiction and humorous novels about a woman learning to live with changes in her life and family.

Appeal factors: Funny, Light, Fast-paced